A "wrong version or type of guest operating system" error during virtual machine creation

APPLIES TO:

Parallels Desktop for Mac Standard Edition

Symptoms

When trying to create a virtual machine or change its configuration you get one of the following errors:

A wrong version of guest operating system is specified.

The version of the guest operating system is incorrect.

The guest operating system type is incorrect.

The operating system installed does not match the one specified in the virtual machine configuration.

Cause

The above errors may appear in two situations:

Situation 1 - during VM creation:

Automatic detection of the operating system to be installed inside the virtual machine fails.
In such cases the Parallels Wizard asks you to select the operating system manually.
The above errors can mean any of the following:

You chose a wrong operating system type or version in the virtual machine configuration;

The inserted installation media is for another type or version of the guest OS;

The inserted installation media is corrupted.

Situation 2 - after editing VM configuration:

You changed the guest operating version or type in the virtual machine configuration and it fails to start.

Resolution

Please make sure that the installation media that you are using for guest OS installation contains the same operating system type and version that you selected during virtual machine creation.

Situation 2:

Please make sure that the guest operating version or type that you specified in the virtual machine configuration matches the operating system type and version installed in the virtual machine.
You may need to address this issue with your system administrator or with the person who installed the guest operating system on your virtual machine.

Situation 3:

Please open virtual machine configuration (Virtual Machine (Actions) > Configure...), open the General tab and change the guest OS under the VM name to the one currently installed in your VM.